


singing a rushlight, pyre light

by blackkat



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [131]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Flirting, Friendship, M/M, Starrk Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 15:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16020353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: Starrk wakes to find a man sitting in the sand beside them.





	singing a rushlight, pyre light

Starrk wakes to find a man sitting in the sand beside them.

His first reaction is to pull Lilynette closer, drag her further under their cloak even as he rolls up, braced, but not about to attack. He doesn’t need to; their reiatsu is too strong, corrosive, and in a few moments this man will crumble away, turn to dust—

There's a chuckle, low and amused, and the man tilts his sakkat down to shade his eyes. “I'm no threat to you, Starrk,” he says, light and friendly, and when Starrk freezes the stranger casts him a lazy smile. “Yare, yare, don’t look so alarmed. I'm not here to reap you, I promise.”

Reap. Like a Shinigami. Starrk breathes in, breathes out, and slowly, carefully sits back, lifting a hand to touch the hole in his chest. “You're a Shinigami,” he says warily.

“Guilty as charged,” the man says easily. “Kyōraku Shunsui, originally from Soul Society. I felt your reiatsu and couldn’t resist finding you.”

Alarm sparks through Starrk's chest, and he makes a vain attempt to drag his power back, to choke it down, but just existing uses more reiatsu than most creatures can withstand. “No,” he says, leaning back. “You need to leave, you can't—”

A hand catches his wrist, pulls him closer, and Starrk only just manages not to hit Lilynette as he dragged in. Shunsui catches his face in the curve of his palm, frames the edge of the bone mask with a careful touch. “Don’t worry,” Shunsui says, holding Starrk's startled gaze. “However much power you have, I can bear it. You won't kill me.”

It’s true, Starrk thinks, bewildered. He touches Shunsui’s wrist, pressing against the pulse-point there, and he can _feel_ the thrum of Shunsui’s power through his skin, a vast storm trapped within his skin. It’s easily equal to Starrk's, and even though it lacks the corrosive, hungry edge that Starrk's has, it isn't wavering under the pressure. Maybe that will change, maybe someday it will finally give way, but for now—

“You won't die,” he echoes, and swallows down the seed of hope that he’s never let take root before. “I—you were looking for us?”

Shunsui’s smile is kind, but there's something as sharp as blades behind it. “There's a man who wants to use you,” he says. “For your power. He’s going to betray you, though, and I wanted to stop things before he could get to you.”

Starrk hesitates, wavers. That sounds—like another person who could withstand his reiatsu. But at the same time, just the thought of a betrayal like that stings. Finding companions, and then losing them to treachery—he hates the idea.

“Thank you,” he says quietly, and means for more than the warning. It’s care, after all, that brought this man to him. Care for Starrk and Lilynette, even before he met them.

That kind-sharp smile turns wry, and a tilt of his hat hides Shunsui’s face. “Don’t thank me,” he says, and pulls his hand back from Starrk's cheek. “I want to use you too, Starrk. You're loyal, and you're powerful. You're exactly what I need.”

The words make a sliver of _something_ lodge in Starrk's chest, hot-sharp and strange. He glances over at Lilynette, feeling the stirring of her reiatsu as she surfaces from her dreams, and then looks back at Shunsui, who’s watching him with depthless-dark eyes and a smile that would be frightening if it wasn’t so beautiful.

“But you won't betray us,” Starrk says, and the words are certain, even if he doesn’t know what makes him know that Shunsui won't ever be faithless.

Shunsui pauses, something like surprise crossing his face. Then, softly, he laughs, tipping his hat back. “No,” he says with amusement. “If you're one of mine, you're mine forever, Starrk. Do you think you can live with that?”

For the sake of a companion? For a comrade who won't turn on them? Starrk smiles with something like relief, and says, “If those are the conditions, I believe we can live with them.”

Tension slides out of Shunsui’s shoulders like water disappearing into the sand. “Good,” he says, and reaches out again, brushing Starrk's hair back from his face with a wry smile. “Very good,” he corrects, and looks down at Lilynette. His smile softens, and he asks, “Will she wake up soon? We need to leave before Aizen comes.”

Aizen—he must be the betrayer. Starrk commits the name to memory even as he leans over to shake Lilynette’s shoulder lightly. She groans, unhappy, and her expression twists as she drags the cloak up over her face, bats at him.

“Starrk, go _away_ ,” she protests.

“Lilynette, wake up,” Starrk tells her.

There's a pause, and then one pink eye slits open, squints. “Who are you and what did you do with Starrk?” Lilynette demands, sitting up. “Starrk would never tell me to…wake…”

Her gaze lands on Shunsui and she stills, eye widening. Stares, unable to find words, and then grabs for Starrk's shirt. “Starrk, _Starrk_ , make him go away! Make him leave before he dies! _Starrk_ —”

“He won't die,” Starrk tells her, and the words still feel like a miracle. “He’s too strong.”

Lilynette’s expression goes slack, her mouth dropping open. Then, with a cry, she launches herself up off the sand and bodily tackles Shunsui, toppling him back as he yelps.

“You won't die!” she crows, thumping a fist on his chest and making him wheeze. “You won't die! Even if you look like a mangy hobo, you're _ours_ now! You can stay with us and be our friend!”

Starrk chuckles, rising to his feet and plucking her off of Shunsui’s chest. She makes a sound of disappointment as she’s lifted, but when Starrk sets her on her feet she scales his back without hesitation, locking her knees around his side and gripping his shoulders. “Are we going somewhere?” she asks. “Are we all traveling together?”

“Of course,” Shunsui says, like it’s a simple fact of life. He holds out a hand, waving it at Starrk pointedly, and Starrk blinks, then takes it. With an easy hum, Shunsui pulls himself to his feet, brushing sand off his clothes, and then says, “There's a place in the Rukongai where we can stay.”

“Soul Society?” Lilynette asks in alarm, trading glances with Starrk, who doesn’t feel all that at ease with the location himself.

Shunsui smiles, reaches out. He hooks an arm through Starrk's, pulls him on a few steps, and Starrk has no idea what to do with the heat of Shunsui’s broad body pressed in a line of heat against his.

“Maa, don’t worry your pretty head,” Shunsui says cheerfully. “There are Vasto Lordes there as well, two _lovely_ women and their Fracción, and a few Shinigami as well. Even some Quincies. Everyone gets along just fine.”

“Won't I be a danger to them?” Starrk asks, uncertain, and on his shoulders Lilynette is very, very quiet. They’ve already killed so many without even meaning to.

Shunsui looks like the notion never even occurred to him. “Ah, there's no need to worry about that kind of thing,” he says easily, patting the back of Starrk's hand. “If you’d like, I can seal a part of your power away, so you can access it when you need it, but most people won't feel it.”

“You can do that?” Lilynette asks in shock, tipping so far over Starrk's shoulder that she almost tumbles down his chest. “You can _really_ do that?”

Shunsui winks at her. “There's a pretty, shiny rock I need to manage it, but I certainly can,” he confirms. “I already did it for the lovely Nelliel and Harribel, after all.”

“Please,” Starrk says quietly, and he grips Shunsui’s wrist, doesn’t ever want to let go. From overwhelming, crushing loneliness to the promise of companions, _many_ companions, and a way to stay close without killing them—it’s like a dream, except Starrk would gladly stay in this dream forever. “I—thank you, Shunsui.”

Shunsui chuckles, casts Starrk a sideways smile as he raises a hand. “Believe me, Primera, it’s my pleasure,” he says, and reiatsu sparks. A dark tear opens in the air, and he steps forward, Starrk in step with him.

“Primera?” Starrk asks, confused by the term.

Shunsui hums, light and thoughtful. “Well,” he says. “I'm building an army, more or less. And you two, I think, are going to be my general. The first, so—Primera.”

Primera. Starrk tastes the title, turning it over, and glances up at Lilynette. She nods eagerly, and Starrk pauses. “General sounds like a lot of work,” he says a little warily.

Instantly, Lilynette screeches, knees him hard in the spine. “Stupid Starrk, just say yes!” she shouts. “Work isn't going to kill you!”

Shunsui laughs at them, rubs his thumb across the back of Starrk's hand. When Starrk's breath catches at the touch, he winks, pulls him closer. “We’ll work it out,” he promises. “Ready to go?”

Starrk doesn’t need to glance back at the empty desert behind them, the piles of Hollow bones that mark their path. “Yes,” he says, and this he’s entirely certain about.

Shunsui flashes him a smile that’s challenge and warmth and the edge of a knife, thrilling and heady, and pulls him out of the desert and into another world.


End file.
